Launching the Global Mission Reverend Moon has developed the worldwide missionary movement in stages.
As one of the main aspects of God's providence of restoration, its work is to restore humanity into the sphere of God's direct dominion. This cannot be achieved, however, by miracles in the traditional sense.
In 1975, after gaining victory in his individual, family and national courses, Reverend Moon sent missionaries out to 120 countries. This amounted to a declaration of the restoration of the world, beyond the level of the restoration of one nation. There had been limited dispatches of missionaries previously, and missionary work was already going on in some forty countries. However, this was the first global dispatch of missionaries on such a scale. As of May 1 of that year, a total of 273 missionaries - 5 American, 82 German and 96 Japanese - had been sent out, in teams of three, to ninety-five countries. The external result of their effort may have been unsatisfactory but there was remarkable development of heart. They came to understand God's providence, and experienced a heart toward God and their teacher, and a passion of faith, greater than they had ever believed possible.
On September 19, 1990, thirty Korean missionaries left for Japan to gain experience and to qualify for missionary work through study and training. After a three-month period of training, they departed for their mission locations. Although small groups of five or six people had previously gone out as missionaries, a dispatch of so many Korean missionaries at once was unprecedented. Modern civilization has linked the world together as a global village, allowing people to travel to any country in the world within one day. Through electronic communication, we can know what is happening on the opposite side of the world.
After all, human beings should live as one family with one heart, aligned with God's providence. To achieve the goal of heaven on earth under Heaven's dominion, humankind should adopt a global ideal and transcend differences between nations, cultures, customs and religions. In essence, our world mission work is an effort to achieve this.
World missions began five years after the founding of the Church at 391 Bukhak-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul on May 1, 1954. Since the time when Bong-choon Choi began missionary work in Japan on June 15, 1958, many people have worked in a missionary capacity, knocking at the door of the world.
Missionary efforts have expanded across five oceans and six continents to over one hundred and sixty nations. Some of these nations have no diplomatic relations with Korea, and there are countries where missionary work is being carried out underground. In 1994, missionaries were dispatched to 160 countries, with one Korean brother and ten Japanese sisters comprising one team.
God's providence of restoration is progressing and His true love is a beacon of hope throughout the world including North America, Latin America, Asia, Europe, Middle East, CIS, Oceania and Africa.